Firestarter (The Prodigy song)
| recorded = Essex, United Kingdom | studio = | venue = | genre = |techno |rave }} | length = |4:42 }} | label = | writer = | producer = Liam Howlett | prev_title = Poison | prev_year = 1995 | next_title = Breathe | next_year = 1996 }} "Firestarter" is a song by the British band the Prodigy, released on 18 March 1996. It was the first single from their third album The Fat of the Land, and their tenth single overall. It was also the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks, and their first big international hit, also reaching number one in Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary and Norway. It showcased Keith Flint, with punk rock-style vocals, as the group's frontman and is an important crossover song, meshing electronic beats, with industrial metal and punk rock. Composition The songwriting credits include Kim Deal of alt-rock group the Breeders, as the looped wah-wah guitar riff in "Firestarter" was sampled from the Breeders' track "S.O.S." from the album Last Splash. The drums are sampled from a remix of the song "Devotion" of the group Ten City. The "hey hey hey" sample is from the 1984 song "Close (to the Edit)" by Art of Noise. Then-members Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J. J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan and Paul Morley also receive songwriting credits. The "Empirion Mix", which does not include these samples, is credited solely to Liam Howlett and Keith Flint. Critical reception and covers In October 2011, NME placed it at number 52 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". Writing for pitchfork.com in 2005, Jess Harvell said, "'Firestarter' sounds like Trent Reznor in one of his all-too-rare moments of self-aware humor, like the Bomb Squad at +5 with a pink-haired British bulldog bellowing about how tuff he is." "Weird Al" Yankovic created a loose parody of "Firestarter", titled "Lousy Haircut", for an episode of The Weird Al Show; he could not do a full parody of the song as the network CBS did not want to pay royalties to the Prodigy. In 2004, the song was covered by Gene Simmons of KISShttp://www.blabbermouth.net/news/design-the-gene-simmons-alter-ego-firestarter/ and in 2012 by Torre Florim of De Staat. Following Flint’s death on 4 March 2019, fans used the hashtag ‘Firestarter4Number1’ on various social media platforms to replicate the song’s success by getting it to the number 1 spot again. This was done out of respect for Keith Flint and to raise awareness of suicide among men. The single also returned to the Billboard charts, entering number 13 on its Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Sales chart in its 16 March 2019 issue, marking the first time that this song has appeared on a Dance chart of any kind."The Prodigy Return to Billboard's Charts After Keith Flint's Death" from Billboard (13 March 2019) Music video The music video was directed by Walter Stern and was filmed in an abandoned London Underground tunnel at Aldwych. Track listing XL Recordings/Maverick/Mute 12-inch single CD single Charts and certifications Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications |accessdate=21 March 2014|relyear=1996}} References External links * Category:The Prodigy songs Category:Songs about fires Category:1996 singles Category:1995 songs Category:XL Recordings singles Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Number-one singles in the Czech Republic Category:Number-one singles in Finland Category:Number-one singles in Hungary Category:Number-one singles in Norway Category:Songs written by Trevor Horn Category:Songs written by Liam Howlett Category:Songs written by Anne Dudley Category:Songs written by Kim Deal Category:Music videos directed by Walter Stern Category:Black-and-white music videos Category:Techno songs Category:Maverick Records singles Category:Gene Simmons songs